‘You and Me, Mum’

A 10 week programme that works with mothers to empower and support them in addressing the needs of children and young people who have lived with domestic violence.

The programme helps mothers who have experienced domestic violence to explore:

their role as mothers

the impact of domestic violence upon their child(ren), and

the impact of domestic violence upon their relationship with their child(ren).

Before delivering ‘You and Me, Mum’, facilitators must attend the Women’s Aid 2-day ‘Train the Trainer’ programme. Haven Horizons invited Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland to Ennis in June 2017 to deliver the training to Clare Haven’s client support team and the ‘Insights’ facilitators.

The pilot ‘You and Me, Mum’ is running from September–Dec 2017, with 10 women attending. The programme will be evaluated in 2018.

What women who say about ‘You and Me, Mum’

“My relationship with my kids has improved a great deal because I now make time for us rather than the three of us spending time in separate rooms”.

“I know I am making a better connection with their feelings and confusion. Before I didn’t fully realise that their feelings were, so often, similar to my own”.

“It has meant a great deal as it has given me coping skills in how to deal with different situations. We all get on better and are looking forward to new things”.

“I now realise my kids were behaving the way they were, not, as I had been told, because I was a bad mother, but because of the unstable environment they had been living in. I myself have strengthened since the programme began”.